The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this disclosure and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In the wireless-network industry, a semiconductor component may operate at high-speed frequencies that exceed, for example, 2.4 gigahertz (GHz). To accommodate such high-speed frequencies and improve signal performance of the semiconductor component, a packaging substrate or an integrated-circuit (IC) die of the semiconductor component may incorporate structures that include ground planes or ground traces.
The semiconductor component may also include interconnect structures in the form of conductive pillars. Such interconnect structures, typically fabricated directly onto pads of the IC die, serve as a mechanism for attaching the IC die to the substrate and also provide a conduit for signals emanating from circuitry of the IC die. Today, design and fabrication techniques associated with the interconnect structures leave adjacent interconnect structures exposed to one another. In contrast to the efforts associated with incorporating ground plane or ground trace structures in portions of the semiconductor component, the exposed nature of the interconnect structures can result in signal degradation due to signal losses or signal interferences.